February 19, the European Commission released its EU data strategy. As the IAPP's Riyan Chiavetta reported, the document outlines the commission's five-year plan for "policy measures and investments to enable the data economy." The commission based its strategy on four pillars, one of which is a cross-sectoral governance framework for data access and use. In conjunction with the release data strategy, the commission also published a white paper on AI. In this episode of The Privacy Advisor Podcast, the Future of Privacy Forum's Gabriela Zanfir-Fortuna, who's expertise on moves by the European government is exceptionally informed, discusses the new releases and whether they'll have a meaningful impact or if they're lofty, abstract goals.

In January, the U.K. Information Commissioner's Office released its proposed "Age Appropriate Design Code" aimed at protecting children's privacy online. The code, which will require parliamentary approval, outlines 15 standards online services should follow. It also provides guidance on data protection safeguards aimed at ensuring online services are appropriate for children's use. In this episode of The Privacy Advisor Podcast, Playwell's Linnette Attai talks to host, Angelique Carson, CIPP/US, about what the code means for companies who cater to children, and even more importantly, those who traditionally haven't but may be covered under the new rules.

It would've been hard to miss the big news this week, news privacy advocates are heralding as a major win: Facebook has agreed to settle for $550 million in a class-action lawsuit alleging the company violated Illinois' biometric privacy law when it used facial recognition software to suggest users "tag" faces in photos they'd uploaded to the site. In this episode of the podcast, Jay Edelson, one of the plaintiff's attorneys who argued the case, talks about why he's "enormously proud" of what is " easily the largest cash privacy settlement in our nation's history" and why this is a good settlement for members of the class.

Jan. 15, Washington State Legislature's Senate Environment, Energy & Technology Committee held its first public hearing on a reintroduced version of the Washington Privacy Act. Those who've been following developments on the state's privacy legislation will recall that last year, despite gaining some significant momentum, the bill failed. The new version of the bill has gained praise from many privacy advocates, and lawmakers in Washington have said the bill has significant bi-partisan support. But Jevan Hutson and Jennifer Lee, who both testified at Wednesday's hearing, have concerns that the bill fails to protect consumers in a number of ways. In this episode of the podcast, Hutson and Lee discuss what happened at the hearing and why they're not convinced this bill represents comprehensive privacy reform. Full Story

Anyone who's been in the privacy game for a minute will likely tell you 2019 was one of the most exciting — and stressful — years on the books. Regulatory and enforcement action, the mad dash to comply with the California Consumer Privacy Act and continuing efforts to operationalize GDPR-compliant programs were just a fraction of the news privacy professionals had to track this year in order to do their jobs well. The good news? That made for plenty of fodder for The Privacy Advisor Podcast. In this last episode of the 2019 season, five of the year's best-rated guests, according to you, talk about the pitfalls of 2019 and — more importantly — the essential developments they're tracking as 2020 approaches.

Last week, on the keynote stage at the IAPP's Data Protection Congress, data protection authorities from three different countries took the stage to address a sold-out crowd of privacy professionals eager to hear straight from the proverbial horses mouths' what to expect from the leaders charged with enforcing Europe's sweeping data privacy law. When are the fines finally coming? Is the GDPR even working at all? And what kinds of emerging technologies and data uses scare the regulators most given the risk of misuse? In this episode of The Privacy Advisor Podcast, the Future of Privacy Forum's Gabriela Zanfir-Fortuna, who moderated the on-stage discussion, talks to host Angelique Carson about what the regulators had to say.

In this episode of The Privacy Advisor Podcast, host Angelique Carson chcats with Robert Robbert van Eijk, who's recently joined the Future of Privacy Forum as its managing director for Europe. Prior to serving in this position, Eijk worked at the Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA) for nearly 10 years and has since become an authority in the field of online privacy and data protection. He represented the Dutch DPA in international meetings and as a technical expert in court, and he also represented the European Data Protection Authorities in negotiations of the World Wide Web Consortium on Do Not Track. Van Eijk discusses the future of online advertising and what it's like working within the walls of a data protection authority.

It wasn't long ago that the number of journalists covering the privacy and data protection beat was very small. Most mainstream newspapers didn't have a journalist dedicated to what were once considered very niche topics. Now, every major newspaper has one or more journalists dedicated to the onslaught of daily news made by tech companies' missteps or the policymakers reacting to them. In this episode of The Privacy Advisor Podcast, host Angelique Carson chats with Brussels-based Politico journalist Laura Kayali on the ePrivacy Regulation, covering the Max Schrems hearing and emerging EU trends in facial recognition.

There are so many privacy headlines in the U.S. right now that it almost seems to overshadow developments in the EU. While the privacy profession was, for years, seemingly laser-focused on the General Data Protection Regulation -- deservedly -- the California Consumer Protection Act set a firestorm in 2017 and then later in 2018 when it was passed. But that doesn't mean things are quiet in the EU. In this episode of The Privacy Advisor Podcast, host Angelique Carson chats with FieldFisher's Phil Lee, CIPP/E, about everything from the future of cross-border data transfers to that yet-to-be-passed ePrivacy Regulation.

At the IAPP's Privacy. Security. Risk. conference, it would be hard to argue that the California Consumer Privacy Act wasn't the general topic of conversation everywhere from the keynote stage to breakout sessions to happy hour. From a dressing room offstage at The Cosmopolitan Hotel's Chelsea Theater in Las Vegas, Nevada, Angelique Carson, CIPP/US, sat down with Tanya Forsheit of Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz to talk about the latest. Forsheit counsels all sorts of companies, big and small and in-between, to help them comply with CCPA. In this episode of The Privacy Advisor Podcast, Forsheit talks about industry's perspective on the latest CCPA amendments, the most difficult part of compliance to date and what she thinks about the bombshell Alastair Mactaggart dropped during this week's conference that he's introducing a CCPA 2.0.